


As the Story Goes

by fanfairmod



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Godfather Harry Potter, H/D Book Fair 2013, HP: EWE, M/M, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 07:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1015735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanfairmod/pseuds/fanfairmod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several years after the final battle of Hogwarts, tensions settle between the opposing forces. One little boy goes about changing the relationship between two former enemies for the better. Written by <a href="http://the-mango-writes.tumblr.com">mangobearer</a>.</p><p><b>Book Mentioned:</b> <span class="u">The Tales of Beedle the Bard</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	As the Story Goes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [momatu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/momatu/gifts).



> I’d like to thank my lovely Narwhal, who was my beta for this and helped me figure out how to end it. I’d also like to thank the mods for not hunting me down and hurting me with how long it took me to send it in. And the biggest of thanks to my prompter, for coming up with an idea that I decided that I must do as soon as I read it.

  
  
Cover Design of the 2008 US edition  
  


Harry’s in the middle of prying a portrait off of a wall in a spare bedroom on the third floor at number 12 Grimmauld Place when Andromeda knocks on the bedroom door. Startled, Harry nearly drops his wand and the hammer he had been using and exclaims, “Dromeda! I wasn’t expecting you to drop by for another few hours at least.” He glances around her to look for his godson, but when he can’t see him he turns back to Andromeda and asks, confusion lacing his voice, “Where’s Teddy?”

“He’s at my home with Narcissa and Draco,” she replies and when he makes a face she shoots him a disapproving glare. “Hey, don’t you make that face; you know they adore Teddy and Teddy loves them. Besides, they would never do anything that would bring harm to Teddy for the fear of our combined wraths.”

Harry brushes some of the dust from the wall as he leads Andromeda out into the hall and casts a quick _Colloportus_ at the door. He leads her away from the door and down the stairs. As they make their way to the living room Harry says, “Yeah, I know; but I still can’t get over how he treated me all those years at Hogwarts.”

“Well, I’d say that’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black, wouldn’t you?” Andromeda asks as they enter the living room. Besides, it’s not good to dwell on the past, nor is it good to have hate in one’s heart; it really festers on the mind.”

“What does that say about you? You can barely be in the same room as your sister for an extended period of time. Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical of you to be saying that?” Harry accuses.

“That’s actually what I’m here to talk about; Narcissa and Draco stopped by and Narcissa wanted to know if I wanted to join her for lunch. I thought I might ask you if you wanted Teddy a day early. I know you love your days with Teddy and wouldn’t mind watching him, but I just thought since I don’t know how long I’d be out that it wouldn’t be practical to come and get him from you only to bring him back over in the morning.” To say that Harry is confused would be an understatement. He knows all about how Andromeda’s family disowned her for marrying Ted. Ever since then, Andromeda has had no contact with any of her family. Whenever they happen to be in the same place at the same time, one of them would either leave or simply ignore other. What eventually had Andromeda and Narcissa spending some time together was a family outing a few months back that the Ministry had put together as a thank you for their employees hard work and devotion over the course of the past year.

\--------

Harry brought Teddy along with him to the family picnic so he could get out and get some more social interaction. To help him wrangle Teddy whenever he got out of hand, Harry brought Andromeda along as well. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ron or Hermione to help him; it was just they were so busy and stressed out with wedding planning as it is and couldn’t make it. Harry didn’t want to ask Ginny for her help either; not because it would be awkward, actually he and Ginny were completely comfortable around one another, probably even more so after their break up. Not long after the Battle, they quickly realized the only reason they were together was because it was what people expected of them. The only reason he didn’t asked her was because of her hectic training schedule with the Hollyhead Harpies; she needed any free time she had to rest.

No, Harry asked Andromeda for her help because she knew exactly how to handle Teddy. She was his main guardian since Tonks and Remus’ deaths, and Harry merely helped whenever he could. For the past two years Teddy had been staying with him on the weekends when he wasn’t working or focusing on renovating 12 Grimmauld Place.

While at the picnic, Harry and Andromeda fell into conversation and were so immersed that they didn’t realize the curious little Teddy had wandered off. Panicked, Harry ran off in the direction he last saw his godson heading and nearly ran into a familiar head of platinum blond hair.

"Potter, I think you may have misplaced something," Draco said as he gestured to Teddy, whom had latched onto his hand. Obviously enamored, Teddy had changed his appearance to shadow Draco's: the same brilliant blonde hair, the steel grey eyes, even the sharp, pointed nose and pursed lips. Harry had a brief vision of Draco, at the same age, pulling an impassive Lucius along behind him; it was sort of unnerving that looking at Teddy implanted that image in his head. Glancing at Teddy, Draco remarked, with an amused lilt in his voice, "Though I do have to admit, he seems to have a good sense of style."

"Thank you Malfoy. We'll be going now. Have a nice day," Harry replied, ending the short exchange and grabbing Teddy's hand to pull him away from Draco. Teddy, however, refused to budge. "Come on Teddy, we have to get back to Nana."

"But I wanna play with Draco," Teddy whined, digging his heels in the ground.

"No, Teddy. I'm sure he has more important things to do than spend his time with people he doesn't think are worthy of his presence," Harry coaxed, attempting to get Teddy to let go of Draco's hand and follow.

"Nonsense, Potter. If Teddy wishes for me to play with him, I will," Draco says, catching Harry by surprise. Teddy let out a shout of glee and gripped Draco's hand even tighter, dragging him along as he followed Harry back to Andromeda.

The second Teddy saw Andromeda, he started running to her, pulling Draco along with him exclaiming, "Nanny! Nanny! Say hi to my new friend!"

Andromeda stopped Teddy before he ran over a man carrying drinks back to his family before standing back up to greet Draco. "Hello! I'm sorry he did that; he can get rather excited when he meets a new friend. I'm Andromeda by the way dear."

"Hello Andromeda, I'm Draco. I don't mind all that much; he's rather sweet."

"He really is, but he's much calmer after he's spent at least a day with Harry. The boy tries to make up for an entire week within a day’s time."

"Why does he not see Potter that often? I thought he was given to him to take care of after the Battle."

"Teddy stays with me throughout the week because of Harry's work schedule."

"Then why don't you just watch him during the day and Harry gets him back after work?"

"It’s none of your business, Malfoy! Why don't you just stay out of it?" Harry said.

"Malfoy?" Andromeda questioned, startled.

"Yes..." Draco hesitantly answered her.

"As in Narcissa's son?"

"Why do you want to know?" Draco asked defensively.

A tall, slender woman, face creased with age, appeared next to Draco. Although clearly an older woman, she possessed a sophisticated beauty clearly visible to anyone who dared look at her. Narcissa whose hair, even after all these years, was still bright blonde underneath her families signature coal black locks, had obviously been searching for her son for quite a while.

"Draco! I was wondering where you-" she started, only to slowly trail off as she recognized who he was talking to.

"Narcissa," Andromeda addressed stiffly.

"Hello Andromeda.” Narcissa replied, in a tone that mirrors her sister's, “fancy seeing you here,"

Confused, Draco turned to Narcissa. "You know her, Mother?"

"Yes, Draco. This is your Aunt Andromeda," Narcissa answered her son without once breaking eye contact with her sister.

"I'm only here to help look after my nephew, Teddy,” here, she gestured to Teddy, whom had sunk behind Harry’s leg in reaction to the sisters’ hostility, “at Harry's request. I'm sure the only reason for your being here is to make sure that your _darling Draco_ doesn't consort with what you deem as the 'wrong crowd'.”

To distract Teddy from the oncoming argument, Draco pulled him off to the side, safely away from the sounds of bickering siblings, and crouched down next to him on the grass. What he then proceeded to do surprised Harry so much, he felt as if his eyes were ready to pop out of his head. He actually started _talking_ to Teddy. He asked him about what he liked--which sent Teddy into a long list with things like Licorice Wands and playing wizard chess with ‘Uncle Ron’--and what he enjoyed doing and even answering a few of Teddy’s questions in return. It was like he was a completely different person from the one Harry had gone to school with.

As he looked at the pair, Harry felt annoyance bubbling in his chest. For some reason, it irritated him to see how happy Teddy seemed to be as he talked to Draco, arm-waving increasing as he gets more passionate about whatever he was talking about. With their day clearly ruined and Dromeda too upset about the encounter with her sister, Harry decided it would be best if they just left.

As they're about to part, Teddy asked Draco, "When can I see you again?"

Surprised, Draco looked at Harry and said, "I'll talk to Harry about it, but you'll see me again soon, I promise."

"Okay, bye Draco," Teddy called at Draco's retreating form. 

The next day Harry had received an owl from Draco asking if he could come over and visit Teddy. Harry ignored it without a second thought. He didn’t like Malfoy, not with his self-important personality and cowardly ways, and having him around his godson made him nervous.

\--------

Snapping out of his musings, Harry returns his attention to Andromeda. "Sure, I can take Teddy off your hands. I was almost finished up here anyways."

"Thank you, Harry. I'll send Draco over with him in a few moments,” Andromeda says, and then when Harry makes another displeased expression, “Wipe that look off your face. I have to change and I'm not sending Teddy through the floo by himself."

"Fine, I can put up with Malfoy for a few minutes," Harry says grudgingly. Andromeda smiles and hugs Harry before disappearing through the fireplace. It isn't more than a minute after she disappears that Draco walks through and into the living room holding Teddy's hand. With his other hand, Teddy has his gigi securely held against his chest.

His gigi is a small baby blanket, one side a silky green fabric, that matches the border, and the other side is a soft fleece with a cloud pattern. On one of the corners, on the fleece side of the blanket, is a medium sized patch of Peter, Wendy, John, and Michael all flying to Neverland. Teddy has had the blanket since he was a baby, it was actually a gift from Harry. He used to carry it around wherever he went but the past year or so, Harry and Andromeda have been weaning him from it. He still demands to have it every night and falls asleep with the patch pressed against his mouth, that being his Corner. The one time Andromeda tried to put Teddy to bed without his gigi, he threw a fit and was screaming and crying until she finally gave in and let him have it.

Harry watches them come in and, when they reach him, takes Teddy’s hand from Draco before saying, "Thank you, Malfoy. I'll take him from here; you can run back to your Mum now."

"But Draco promised he would play with me _all_ day," Teddy says brightly.

"No, Teddy, I'm sure he has more important things to do today. Isn't that right Malfoy?" Harry glares at him, daring him to protest.

"But he promised!" Teddy yells.

Sensing the oncoming tantrum, Draco quickly steps in and says, "He's right, I did promise. Anything I had planned isn't anything that can't be rescheduled for a later date." 

Upon hearing that his friend is staying, Teddy immediately stops and tackles Draco's leg in delight. Stumbling slightly at the unexpected embrace, Draco quickly regains his balance and ruffles Teddy's hair fondly.

"Fine, I'm going to make sure Teddy's room hasn't been messed up from recent renovations I've done this week," Harry grumbles, takes the gigi, and quickly climbs the steps to Teddy's room.

The first time Harry met him, Teddy was only a month old at most and at first glance Harry was wrapped around the baby's tiny little fingers. It was that moment that Harry vowed to himself that he would always do what was best for Teddy and be the best parental figure he could be. Not long after that Harry had started to renovate a room for the small child, eagerly anticipating the day Teddy would begin staying with him.

It is a decent sized room, more than big enough for a five-year-old. The bed is pressed against the far left wall for maximum playing room, with a toy box at the foot. Next to Teddy's bed sits a short bookshelf that doubles as a night stand. The bookshelf is full of coloring books and supplies as well as some of Teddy's favorite bedtime stories, such as _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ and _Peter Pan_.

As he walks in the room, Harry notices a few of the coloring books have fallen from their spots on the shelf, so Harry quickly fixes them, sets the gigi on the bed, and casts a last sweeping glance over the room before leaving and quietly making his way back to the living room.

As he reaches the foot of the staircase he hears screeches and cries of help that sounds a lot like Teddy. Alarmed, Harry sprints into the living room, wand in hand, prepared to attack only to find Malfoy and Teddy in an all-out Tickle War.

"What's going on here?" Harry demands.

"Just a little Tickle War, Harry, besides, Teddy started it," Draco defends, pointing to Teddy, who seems to have literally been tickled pink.

"Nuh-Uh," Teddy quickly denies, maniacally shaking his head, "Draco started it, I was being good."

"You little brat!" Draco says to Teddy, and then to Harry, "He's the one who jumped on me the second you left the room, I'm just an innocent victim who was caught in the act of retaliation."

"See! He did start it, he's using big words so I don't know what he's saying and so I can't show you his lies!"

"I said I didn't start it, I just got caught getting back at you."

"No, you-"

"Enough!" Harry yells, cutting Teddy off, "I don't care who started it. I just thought someone was attacking and came to find the two of you messing around."

"Sorry Harry, I didn't mean to scare you," Teddy apologizes, getting up from his spot on the floor next to Draco and hugging Harry.

Harry returns the hug instantly and says, "It's okay, Teddy. I just don't want you getting hurt. I love you, buddy."

"Love you too, Harry," Teddy replies.

"Well this has gotten extremely sappy," Draco remarks, causing Harry to glare at him, ignoring it Draco continues, "Hey Teddy, what do you say we go upstairs and play?"

"Yeah!" Teddy shouts out, and races Draco towards the stairs.

"No running!" Harry calls after them in vain. Sighing, Harry turns and heads towards the kitchen to make lunch for Teddy.

\--------

"So what do you want to play?" Draco asks Teddy, settling on the twin sized bed and watching the boy rifle through his toy box.

"I wanna play pretend, but I can't find my play wand," Teddy says. After a few moments of searching, Teddy plops down on the floor and lets out a huff of defeat. Draco watches as an idea flits across Teddy's face and the small boy perks up. "Draco, you could use your magic to find my wand."

"Doesn't Harry want you to find things on your own so you're not dependent on magic?" Draco accuses.

"Please Draco," Teddy begs, pouting out his lower lip and giving Draco wide, pleading eyes.

Draco hesitantly retrieves his wand from his. "Are you sure you didn't take it with you to Nana's and leave it there?"

"Yes! Harry doesn't like me taking toys to Nanny's. He says if I take all my toys there, I won't have none here," Teddy says.

"Well, Harry's a smart guy."

"Yeah, he knows lots of stuff. My wand is here though; I know it is, I just can't find it."

"Well, what does it look like?"

"It's a black stick with white ends and about this big," Teddy says, holding his hands about a foot apart.

Draco nods. A typical toy wand; of course Harry had given Teddy such a tacky thing. Though Draco has to admit it is very smart; if Teddy happened to take it out with him in muggle London, no one would think it odd. All they would think is that Teddy is a small child who is fascinated by stage magic.

Draco lifts his wand, briefly imagines the wand and says, " _Accio Wand_." Within seconds, a loud thump emits from the bedroom door. At the sudden noise, Teddy and Draco both jump and let out startled yelps. Draco quickly recovers and crosses the room to the door. Unsure of what will happen when he opens the door, Draco turns to Teddy and mutters a quick, "Stay low," and slowly inches open the door, peeking through it as it squeaks open, only to find the prop lying motionless on the floor. He quickly scoops the wand from the floor and turns to Teddy, a big grin plastered on his face. "TA-DA!" Draco says, presenting the wand with a flourish.

Teddy rushes to Draco, hugging him tightly and repeating, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou."

Draco chuckles softly, not hesitating on returning the hug. "No problem, I'd do anything for you. Now what is it that you wanted to pretend?"

Teddy jumps back from Draco, grabbing his 'wand' in the process. "I was thinking we could pretend we were wizard cops fighting a bunch of bad guys like you and Harry do at work," Teddy says, striking a defensive pose and pointing his prop at an unseen foe.

"It's not as glamorous as it sounds; it's actually just sitting around and doing paperwork most of the time."

"Well that's no fun! are there any jobs where you go out and just fight the bad guys?" Teddy drops his wand in disappointment and stares at Draco with appeal in his eyes.

"Sort of. We have this group of people, called the Aurors, who go and fight the really dangerous people, but they still have to wait and do paperwork."

"Then why aren't you and Harry Aurors? You guys are the coolest, goodest people I know."

"Well Teddy, not everyone would agree with you when you say that about me,” Draco doesn’t exactly volunteer this information willingly, because he loaths to say anything that would change Teddy’s opinion of him, but it’s really the only way to answer Teddy’s question, and he’s also loathes to lie to the child. “Not many people trust me after this big battle that happened shortly after you were born. As for Harry, from what I know, he wanted to be an Auror when we were in school, but when he met you he decided that being an Auror was too dangerous and did the next best thing."

"Oh…” Teddy seems to stew on this for minute before looking up and asking, “Well what does Harry think of you?"

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me,” Draco admits, again somewhat unwillingly. “Because I was mean to him in school and I didn't make the best choices."

"But you're different now, right?"

"Yeah, Teddy...I'm different now."

"I hope Harry sees that. I think you'd would be best friends forever if you got along."

"Me too, Teddy,” Draco laughs. While Teddy’s wording might be a little extreme, the sentiment rings true. “Me too."

"Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Harry?"

As a reflex from years of enmity, Draco almost says no. He stops himself, however, and ponders, "You know, over the past few months I've gotten to know him better than I have in the past nine years combined. If you’d asked me a few months ago, I probably would have said no...but now I have to say yes. I like Harry. When he's being happy and carefree anyway... which is basically anytime he isn't talking to me."

"That's not fair!” cries Teddy, flailing exaggeratedly like the five-year-old he is. “You should be the same around everybody so nobody can say you like someone more!"

"Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it doesn't work out that way."

"Why not?"

"Well, because sometimes a person does something you really don't like and you can't get past it because you think they'll do it again, no matter what you say about it."

"But people can change! You said so yourself that you changed."

"Yeah, I did, but after you do some things, it's really hard to convince someone that you changed."

"Oh, okay... I still think everyone should get a second chance though."

Thinking about Harry defending him in court after the war, Draco says, "Sometimes people do, though it's not as much as they would like."

"What d-"

"Teddy, your lunch is ready!" Harry calls up the stairs, cutting Teddy off.

"But I don't wanna eat, I wanna play with Draco," Teddy yells back, annoyed that he hasn't even had the chance to play with Draco yet.

"Well, Uncle Ron just got here to talk to Malfoy and I, so why don't you eat while we're talking and you can play after?" Harry says.

On the outside he looks calm and patient, but on the inside Harry’s annoyed and a bit fearful of how much Teddy seems to love Malfoy. Whenever Malfoy is around, Teddy is pretty much glued to his side and hanging on to his every word. Malfoy doesn’t seem to be helping the situation either; whenever Teddy wants something all he has to do is go up to the prat and ask and he gets his way. He spoils the child and Harry doesn’t like it; Teddy could easily end up as Malfoy had, a spoiled git who can’t do anything on his own, much less stand up for himself. That’s why Harry's scared, not because he thinks Teddy loves Malfoy more; no, of course not. It also has nothing to do with the fact that in the few months since Malfoy was forced into his personal life, he's been constantly bombarded with proof that Malfoy may have changed since the war. 

Harry snaps out of his inner turmoil when he hears Teddy begin to thump his way down the stairs, Malfoy trailing along behind him. 

“Come on, Teddy; it won’t take too long,” Harry says, amused by Teddy’s dramatics, which when he thinks about it is very Malfoy-like behavior. As the thought occurs to him, his gaze flicks to Malfoy and his smile falls slightly.

Draco catches the glance and notices the minute drop in the intensity of Harry’s smile. He asks, “So what is Weasley here for?” while averting his gaze to the wall and trying to pretend he didn’t see it, let alone feel any sadness over it.

Slightly confused by Malfoy’s odd behavior, Harry quickly dismisses it and says, “Apparently some new clues have cropped up in the case and he needs to go over them with us.”

“Fine, let’s get it over with so Teddy and I can continue playing,” Draco says, pushing past Harry and heading to the dining area, where he presumes Ron to be. Teddy quickly follows behind, eager to get back to his “Draco-time.” Harry rolls his eyes at Teddy’s antics, following them into the dining room and continues on into the kitchen area to retrieve Teddy’s lunch. Grabbing the plate, with a simple lunch of a tuna sandwich and carrot sticks, Harry makes his way back to the dining area watching Ron, Teddy, and Draco, who are already engaged in their usual playful banter. Since they started working together, Ron has grown less and less hateful towards Draco because of his seemingly honest work, though he's still untrusting of the blond. It wasn’t until Draco began spending copious amounts of time with Teddy that Ron really began to warm up to Draco. 

It isn’t that uncommon for Harry to have lunch with the two. When the three of them went out for lunch the first time, Harry thought it was Ron’s way of keeping a close eye on Malfoy, but not long after the third or fourth time, Harry began to see that Ron was beginning to consider Malfoy as a good friend even though they have a rocky past. Harry quickly confronted Ron and asked him what was going on—he may have accused him of going mental too, but that’s beside the point. The only thing Ron had to say was, “Draco’s changed, mate; he’s not the prat he was at Hogwarts.” 

Harry just scoffed and rolled his eyes. It really grated his nerves that a handful of his friends, and those he considered to be his family, were convinced that Malfoy was a saint now. Harry knew better. It was all a ruse, it had to be a ruse. No one could change so drastically, could they? It doesn’t matter, the blond git is just the same as he was in school, no matter what his actions now might say.

Harry sets Teddy’s plate at the end of the table. “Teddy, eat up,” he says, gesturing to the plate when a somewhat startled Teddy looks up.

“Okay,” Teddy chirps back, and scurries to the end of the table, eager to finish and get back to play time. As soon as he is in his seat he begins to devour his sandwich, actively avoiding his carrot sticks.

“Slow down, we’ll still be here when you’re done,” Harry says, an edge in his voice warning Teddy that he will be put in time-out if he doesn’t listen. At once, Teddy slows down and eats at a much more sedate pace, still not even touching his carrots. 

Ron quickly begins reviewing the case so far, but Harry mostly tunes him out, already familiar with every aspect of the case. During the week, when Teddy’s at Dromeda’s, Harry either spends his free time renovating or reviewing every detail of the case he is currently working on, hoping to find some hidden clue. So really, saying he's familiar with the case would be an understatement; he could recite every detail in his sleep—backwards.

Just as Ron begins to fill them in on the new details, Teddy announces, “I’m done, can I go back to playing now?”

Harry glances at Teddy’s plate and says, “You didn’t eat your carrot sticks. You have to eat those before you can get back to playing.”

“But I don’t want carrots, can I have sweets instead?” Teddy tries bargain, thinking some sweets would be just as good as dumb carrots.

“Why don’t you eat all your carrots and you can have a chocolate frog,” Harry says, trying to reason with his godson.

“Can I just have the chocolate frog now and eat the carrots later?”

“No. Eat your carrots, Teddy; they’re good for you.”

“But I don’t want to!” whines Teddy. “Why can’t I just have sweets instead.” He’d much rather do just about anything than have to eat his carrots. Carrots were yucky.

“Hey, Harry, I think I left some important papers in your office the last time we were in there, could you go and check for me?” Ron interjects, shuffling through some of the papers in front of him.

Warily, Harry lances at Teddy and says, “Okay, just make sure he eats his carrots though.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ron mumbles, and then Harry is out of the room, off to go find some non-existent papers in a mess of scattered pages that is also known as the study. As soon as Harry is out of site, Draco slips Ron five galleons and turns to Teddy.

“If you keep quiet and finish it before Harry gets back, I’ll turn a few of your carrot sticks into a chocolate frog,” Draco says conspiratorially.

“Okay,” Teddy hastily agrees. Draco transfigures the three biggest carrots into a medium sized chocolate frog and puts a finger to his lips as a reminder to stay quiet. When the sweet is gone, Teddy turns to Draco with big, pleading eyes and asks, “Could you please make the carrots disappear?”

“Well...okay,” Draco says, unable to say no the child as usual. It isn’t even that he has an irresistible puppy dog face, even though it is a contributing factor. The only reason Draco never says no to Teddy is out of fear of Teddy hating him forever for denying him something. Harry, on the other hand, has nothing to worry about. Teddy absolutely adores him, even if he says ‘no’. Draco wishes Teddy would hold that much regard for him. Maybe then he could be the kind of role-model that the parentless child needs and a proper father-type figure the way Harry is. Harry really is an amazing father figure to Teddy; it's one of the many things Draco likes about him.

Along with other things, such as the fact that Harry has a fantastic ass.

Draco came to terms with the fact that he was attracted to Harry in their 5th year, though he pushed it aside because of the circumstances under which they were laboring at the time. After 6th year, Draco was under the impression that he might have been over his juvenile crush on the Chosen One. Indeed, it waited until after the war to once again rear its ugly head. When they began working together, all of his suppressed feelings started charging back into his life. It was easy to ignore at first, but these past few months of watching how Harry takes care of Teddy and seeing how much love he has for the little boy have been detrimental. What started out as a simple little crush grew into something that constantly has Draco fighting with himself to not slam Harry against a wall and—

Draco snaps back to reality, not exactly a good train of thought to have when sitting across from the five year old godson of the man he fantasizes about at night. Draco points his wand at the few remaining carrots on Teddy’s plate and whispers, “ _Evanesco,_ ” and promptly the carrots disappear. The second Draco’s wand is out of sight; Harry walks back in the room.

“I couldn’t find them, are you sure you left them in there?” Harry asks Ron, worried that vital information might have been lost.

“You know what, I bet I left them at home with ‘Mione. They weren’t extremely important; I’m sure I have what I need right here,” Ron says, trying not to crack a smile and betray that anything out of the ordinary happened while Harry was out of the room.

Before Harry can respond, Teddy claims his attention by shouting, “I’m done! Can I go now?”

Harry looks over at Teddy’s plate to see that, in fact, his carrot sticks are gone. He looks at Teddy, about to say that yes, he can go, when he notices a bit of chocolate at the corner of Teddy’s mouth. “Teddy, where did you get the chocolate?” Harry asks, though he has a hunch that it has something to do with Malfoy. 

“What chocolate?” Teddy asks, eyes wide and trying to look innocent. He squirms in his seat under Harry’s meticulous gaze and his eyes unconsciously flick to Draco despite his attempts at nonchalance.

“Malfoy, talk to me in the hall,” Harry says, barely glancing at the blond before storming out of the room.

“Wish me luck,” Draco mutters, causing a chuckle to escape Ron, before standing up and following suit.

As soon as Draco disappears from sight, Teddy leaps up from his seat and runs over to Ron. 

“Uncle Ron,” he says as he grabs onto Ron’s pant leg, the urgency of the situation obvious in his eyes. “You have to help me.”

“Teddy, what’s wrong?” Ron asks, alarmed. Any amusement from prior events falls from his face and is replaced with worry. What could possibly be so important that it caused the five-year-old sound so serious, Ron wonders

“It’s about Harry and Draco. They need to be friends,” Teddy says, none of the urgency leaving his voice.

“Teddy, we can’t _make_ people be friends,” Ron tries explaining. “Things don’t work that way.” Where Teddy got the notion that the two men in the other room would want to be friends in the first place is lost on him, but that doesn’t mean a lot. Hermione says that most things are lost on him anyways.

“Why not? They would be good friends. Draco said so himself.” Teddy is determined. All he needs Uncle Ron to do is convince Harry that Draco’s good now. Then they could be the best of friends and take Teddy to a bunch of really cool places. Maybe they could even be sort of like a family too. Teddy likes that idea best, but for now he needs to focus on making them friends.

“Draco actually said that?” Ron says, doubting the likelihood of such a thing actually happening.

“Not _exactly_..when we were upstairs, I told Draco that I thought they’d be good friends and he said ‘me too’, then he told me that he liked Harry,” Teddy says, confused why Uncle Ron thinks that Draco would never say something like that.

“He said what?!” Ron exclaims, his eyes widening to a comical size and utter shock written across his face. Ron became aware Draco fancied both blokes and women after he caught him snogging Zacharias Smith at the Ministry Christmas party last year, but he never thought that he might fancy Harry.

Even more confused by Ron’s reaction, Teddy says, “Well, I asked Draco if he liked Harry and he said, “I like Harry when he’s happy and carefree,”...uh...whatever carefree means. But I think it’s a good thing!”

Okay, Ron thinks, so that could mean many things, not necessarily romantic things, though he has to admit they would make a nice couple now that he thinks about it. Even though their personalities tend to clash at times, they really compliment each other. Draco is the smart, cunning, and proper one; whereas Harry is the brave, loyal, and family-centered one….

Yeah, they would make a great couple; the only problem was getting _them_ to see that. 

“Okay, I’ll try to help, though I’m not sure what I need to do,” Ron concedes. No sooner have the words left his mouth than Harry re-enters the room looking...well, pissed off and a pleased, though somewhat sheepish, looking Draco trailing behind.

“What were you two talking about?” Harry asks, suspicious of Ron and Teddy’s huddled together postures.

“Nothing, just asking about your last battle,” Teddy lies, because if either of them figured out what they were planning, they would do whatever they could to stop it, and Teddy couldn’t have that happening. “Hey, Harry, can Draco come with us to Diagon Alley tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, Teddy. It all depends on whether Malfoy is busy or not,” Harry says, secretly hoping Teddy doesn’t ask—too late, as Teddy just did.

“Sure, as long as Harry doesn’t mind me tagging along,” Draco says, cautiously eyeing Harry, not knowing whether he was pushing his limits or not by agreeing to spend the day with Teddy, and evidently Harry, again.

Sensing the building tension and not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, Ron begins packing up his things and says, “Well, I should get back home to ‘Mione. This is taking longer than I expected, and we still have a few things to go over for the wedding. I guess we’ll just have to go over the new developments another time….sorry.”

“Ron, your wedding is over a month away. I think you’ll be fine staying a few extra minutes to go over things,” Harry says, slightly pleading with him to stay so he won’t be left with Malfoy.

“35 days to be exact. Sorry mate, we have an appointment to taste cakes in about 20 minutes,” Ron apologizes, he isn’t exactly lying either; they do have a cake tasting. It isn’t for another two hours, but Ron is sure he and Hermione can find _something_ to occupy their time with. Once all of his things are together, Ron leans down and hugs Teddy, whispering into his ear, “We’ll talk more about on this Sunday when we go to the Burrow for dinner.”

The second Ron disappears through the fireplace; Teddy turns to Harry with his big, pleading eyes and pouts out his lip until Harry finally relents, “Fine. You can go play again, I’ll be in the spare bedroom just down the hall.” As he says the last bit, Harry casts a warning glare towards Draco as if saying, “I fucking dare you to try something against my godson, I will hex you so hard.” Teddy gives a shout of glee and drags Draco back up the stairs and to his room. Shaking his head, Harry makes his way back to the spare room and continues the work he began that morning.

\--------

Harry finally stops working when he realizes he will need to turn on a light soon if he wants to continue. The tedious work, for the most part, has caused him to forget about the day’s events--even the fact that Teddy was dropped off a day early.

Upon remembering, Harry hurries to the kitchen, thinking that Teddy hasn’t eaten since lunch. Just as he’s about to open the fridge, Harry notices that the sink is full of dishes and there is a fully made plate on the counter. He’s alarmed for a full ten seconds before he remembers that oh, right, Malfoy is in the house. 

On further inspection, the plate full of food doesn’t appear to have anything unusual, aside from a warming charm. Guessing that they went back to Teddy’s room after their apparent dinner, Harry silently makes his way up the stairs and towards Teddy’s bedroom door. The door is cracked open and a sliver of light falls into the hall. As he approaches the door, he begins to hear Malfoy softly telling the tale of _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_. 

Harry stands to the side of the door, just out of sight, and listens as Malfoy’s voice weaves the tale of three witches who band together to try and reach a magical fountain along with an unlucky knight who just so happened to be pulled along into the garden by accident. The journey of the four of them as make their way up the hill and conquer the three obstacles they face before they reach the summit of the hill where the Fountain is located. Of how Altheda cures Asha of her ailments, of how Altheda plans to become rich from the herbs surrounding the Fountain and how Amata doesn’t feel her heartbreak anymore and sees no need for the Fountain’s enchantments. As it’s decided that Sir Luckless is to be given the right to bathe in the Fountain and is given the courage to throw himself at Amata’s feet to profess his love for her and ask for her heart. When Amata happily allows Sir Luckless to have it, trusting him not to break it as her previous lover had.

Harry has always loved the fairy tale, even if he didn’t grow up with it like most wizard children did. He isn’t exactly sure why he likes the story in the first place; maybe it’s because, in the end, everyone gets what they were hoping for, or maybe it’s that all of them worked together for a common goal. Then again, he knows that it’s Teddy’s favorite bedtime story. Maybe that’s why he likes it so much; Teddy likes it and, if it were possible, he would give Teddy the world if he only asked for it.

“And none of them ever knew or suspected that the Fountain’s waters carried no enchantment at all,” Harry hears Malfoy say, followed by the soft thump of the book closing.

Harry is about to open the door and get Malfoy away from his godson, when he hears Teddy whisper, “Draco?” 

Harry finds himself rooted to the spot; Teddy hardly ever makes it completely through his bedtime stories, let alone talks. Harry hears Malfoy hum in acknowledgement, the sort of soft sound a parent makes when addressing their child. Harry knows he’s intruding on a private moment, but can’t bring himself to turn away from the door and whatever secrets may lay behind it on the mind of a certain blond.

\--------

“Did you like the story?” Teddy asks, his simple mind believing that it’s an easy question, not knowing anything about Malfoy’s past, specifically concerning the story. How would he know that Lucius tried, in vain, to get the book banned from the Hogwarts library, and any other books containing or promoting muggle-wizard unions? Tried to get it banned because he didn’t want his son to be exposed to such things, for fear it would taint their blood line.

Harry hears a faint rustling sound, probably because Malfoy is on the bed with Teddy, even though there is a perfectly fine stool next to the bookshelf. Harry then hears Draco answer, in a soft and soothing voice he didn’t know the blond had, “Yes...it’s a nice story. I wish my father had let me read it when I was your age. Things may have been much different if he had.”

“Why didn’t he let you read it?” The innocence in his tone causes Harry’s heart to clench painfully in his chest. The poor child is so ignorant to the evils of the world, yet sooner or later he’s going to have to see just how terrible people can be.

“Well, my father wasn’t a very good man...he believed someone was only as good as their blood line, meaning the more wizards in the family the better, and he did his best to make me believe the same thing. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to read the story, and many others as well, because at the end Sir Luckless, a muggle, and Amata, a witch, get married.” 

Harry is surprised by Malfoy’s complete honesty with Teddy. He would’ve thought Malfoy kept everything about his past a secret because, for once, someone didn’t know and hate him because of it. Sometimes, Harry doesn’t like being wrong; now it just shows him that Teddy really loves Malfoy, horrible past and all, and it quite frankly scared the hell out of him. The fact that Malfoy can get so serious and have these types of meaningful conversations with Teddy without one of them running away means Teddy must really love him, probably more than Harry. Not willing to miss any of the conversation, Harry naps himself out of his inner turmoil and presses himself as close to the door as he can without actually touching it.

“So he didn’t think that muggles and wizards should be together? Teddy asks. 

Such a naive mind, Harry thinks. He doesn’t understand how anyone could believe something to be so bad.

“Exactly...he thought that if your family wasn’t entirely made of wizards and witches, you didn’t really deserve magic,” Draco says. Harry can hear the not-so-hidden disgust in his voice and is taken aback by its presence. As far as Harry knows, Draco has, and still does, agree with his fathers beliefs one-hundred percent. Hearing the disgust forces him to reassess and flip around his beliefs. Can he really have changed that much? Harry isn’t so sure. Malfoy hasn’t really given his ideas on the issue, even if they were implied.

“But you don’t believe that, do you?” So young and so curious. Teddy wouldn’t know it, but this question was even more loaded than his other one. Malfoy’s answer could make or break their entire relationship. One answer could prove true everything he’s been trying to show, whereas the other could destroy their relationship and show Teddy just how much of a git Draco really is.

Despite all of that, Malfoy replies, without hesitation and full of sincerity, “No.My father tried, and for a while he succeeded, but his beliefs were not my own. One should be allowed to love freely and openly. I mean, your parents loved each other with everything they had until the end and it was a beautiful thing. Who should care that your father was a werewolf and that your mother had a muggle father? They were honest and wholesome people and I deeply regret not being able to get to know them better, even though your mother was my cousin, because of my father’s terrible beliefs.” 

Harry is floored by Draco’s words. he really _has_ changed. Draco, apparently, has nothing to hide from Teddy, so he told him exactly what he thought. The battle really did change the git into an entirely new person; someone who is disgusted by his upbringing and isn’t afraid to let it be known. To put it plainly, he’s gone from a child too terrified to stand up for himself, blindly following in his fathers footsteps, to a man who has, to put it plainly, grown some balls and actually stood up for what he thinks is right.

Perhaps Harry should have thought Draco more capable of such things. They’ve all grown up since Hogwarts. Hell, most of them had done more than their fair share of growing up during the last year of the war alone. Somehow, though, he’s still shocked. And with the shock comes the resurfacing of feelings he’s tried to keep submerged for years.

Harry has always found Draco attractive, and for a while finding another bloke attractive really grated his nerves. However, it was _Malfoy_ , and the git’s personality overwhelmed any stronger feelings that might have blossomed. Lately, seeing how different he’s been acting, especially around Teddy, has slowly started changing Harry’s views on the blond. Still, Harry has clung desperately to the belief that Draco hadn’t changed at all, that it was all just an elaborate act to mess with Harry’s mind. Hearing Draco degrade the racist beliefs he was brought up with makes it click in his head that he really has changed, and all at once all the repressed feelings he has for the blond come flooding back to him. All the times he wanted to shove Malfoy into some alcove and ravish him before he remembered it was _Malfoy_ and a scowl fell into place on his face.

Harry is still standing there, shocked from his epiphany, when the door suddenly opens and the man he was just thinking about is standing in front of him, looking very surprised. 

“Yes, Harry?” Draco asks, looking slightly alarmed to find Harry standing just outside the door.

“Nothing, I just came to check and see if Teddy was in bed,” Harry rushes to say, not quite sure why he felt the need to explain himself. Nevertheless, Draco seems to visibly relax after hearing this statement, as he’s probably thinking that Harry is only there to make sure he isn’t corrupting his godson, or something along those lines. Not that Draco would ever do a thing; he obviously loves Teddy to pieces.

"I put him to bed with his blanket and read to him after dinner. Speaking of which, I left a plate of made for you on the counter with a warming charm." The tense set of his shoulders hadn’t completely left. What could possibly be going through his mind? Could he be scared that Harry heard what he was telling Teddy?

“Yeah, I saw. Thanks for that, by the way. Though you could have just came and got me, I wouldn’t have minded,” Harry says, trying to get to Draco to relax, if only in the slightest.

“Yeah, well I should get going-” Draco starts.

At the same time Harry is saying, “Do you want to stick around and-”

Both of them, feeling a bit awkward, just stare at eachother for a moment before Draco asks, “What did you say?”

Still feeling slightly awkward, Harry says, “Well, um, I was wondering if, maybe you wanted to, I don’t know, stick around a bit longer and have a butterbeer. With me.” Draco stares at him blankly for a few seconds before he rushes to add, “But if you want to go home, that’s okay too.”

"I believe I can stay for a little while longer.” The corner of Draco’s mouth lifting into a slight smile.

A couple butterbeers and large bottle of firewhiskey later, a drunk Harry is leading a drunk Malfoy to the fireplace. The alcohol seems to be affecting Draco far more than himself; who knew the blond was such a lightweight?

“I shouldn’t let you go, who knows where you’ll end up?” Harry says, catching Draco as he trips over a bit of the rug.

“Harry Potter, always looking out for others, he is,” Draco mumbles, his face practically pressed into Harry’s neck. His left arm has been thrown haphazardly around the back of Harry’s neck, and he’s leaning heavily into his side.

“I don’t want you saying the wrong thing and ending up in Timbuktu.” The alcohol hasn’t really affected either man’s speech, though Draco seems to be talking with more ease, even if his words words are a bit jumbled.

“Where I’d stay, I don’t know,” Draco says, his hot breath fanning along the column of Harry’s neck.

Harry tries to force back the shudder that crawls down his spine from where the breath hits his throat, hoping to god Draco doesn’t notice. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to, which is really odd, considering he’s practically draped over Harry.

They come to a stop in front of the fireplace and, with bated breath, Harry says, “I never said you couldn’t stay the night here.”

“Shouldn’t say things like that, people will think you like me,” Draco says, leaning into Harry a few seconds longer before pressing a fleeting kiss into his neck and straightening from his hold. “Besides, mother has probably been wondering why I’ve been gone so long.”

As Draco steps into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder, Harry can’t stop himself from saying, “Goodnight, Draco.”

Draco smiles at him with a, “Goodnight, Harry” before he throws the green powder at his feet and says, “Malfoy Manor.” In a burst of green flames he’s gone and Harry’s left standing alone in the living room, hand on the tingling bit of skin where Draco kissed him.

Dazed, he made his way up the stairs and to his room, his head filled with thoughts of silky blond hair and steel grey eyes. He strips down to his boxers and a plain t-shirt, his thoughts a blur of replaying that swift kiss over and over and the feel of Draco’s hot breath against his skin. He begins to wonder how it would feel to have those lips pressed against his own and how that breath would taste on his tongue. Harry climbs in to bed, trying in vain to block out such thoughts, and falling asleep, only to dream about bodies pressed close to one another and hot tongues and heavy hands trailing over skin.

Harry wakes up the next morning, painfully hard and his head pounding to an erratic beat. The little bit of light that seeps through his eyelids seems to be brighter than the god damned sun. He slowly crawls out of bed and stumbles into his en-suite bathroom. Fumbling in the medicine cabinet for a few minutes, Harry makes a small noise of triumph when his hand closes around a small vial of pain relieving potion and proceeds to down the contents in a swift motion.

In seconds, the potion kicks in and Harry begins to recall the events of the night prior after Teddy fell asleep. Draco stayed over an hour or two later and Harry got him talking, after getting him pleasantly buzzed of course. The conversation was surprisingly open and relaxed, not at all what Harry had been anticipating. Even though they mainly talked about Teddy, Harry really began to see the changes in Draco after overhearing him answering the little boy’s questions. Alcohol really seems to lower Draco’s boundaries. Harry flushes slightly and presses a hand to his neck. Maybe a little too much.

Still having no idea why Draco kissed his neck , Harry becomes acutely aware of his _problem_ once again. The kiss sent fiery sparks across his skin and had him aching for more _everywhere_. Such a chaste action shouldn’t have affected him so much, but it seems far too intimate and purposeful to just be pushed aside as a drunken mistake. It can’t have been real, no matter what his body seemed to think.

A quick glance toward the clock tells him it’s going on eight, Teddy will be waking up any minute now. The thought of his five-year-old godson walking in the room and seeing him like this kills his boner pretty quickly. How on Earth would he explain that to him?

As if on cue, Teddy shuffles his way into the room. One tiny fist rubbing at his eyes while the other is clutching his gigi and holding the corner to his mouth. He slowly ambles his way to the bed, the gigi dragging on the floor slightly. He scrambles to the top of the bed and promptly snuggles into the mess of blankets, once again pressing his corner to his face.

Harry smiles, the kid is too cute for his own good sometimes. Harry swiftly walks to the bed and lightly shakes the bundle of blankets that Teddy has become.

“Teddy, wake up. I’m sure you want to eat before Draco gets here,” Harry says, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

Teddy’s head pokes out from under the blankets and he cracks an eye open to look at Harry. “When did you start calling him that?” His voice slurring from sleep.

“Call who what?” Harry asks, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Calling him Draco, you usually call him Malfoy,” Teddy says, confused; as far as he knew, Harry still hated Draco.

Harry takes pause. He doesn’t really know when Malfoy became Draco in his mind; the only thing he can think is that it happened sometime last night.

“Not sure buddy. Either way, up. It’s time for breakfast.” Harry pats his knee and stands back up, waiting for Teddy to work his way out of his blanket cocoon.

Teddy finally worms his way out and sits up, stretching his arms out to Harry in a silent plea, gigi still grasped firmly in one of his hands. Harry rolls his eyes but picks the boy up, blanket and all, with a small grunt from the effort. Immediately, Teddy wraps his arms around Harry’s neck and snuggles close to him. Harry smiles, he knows he can’t keep carrying Teddy when he’s sleepy because he’s getting too big, but for now, he’s glad for the excuse to hold his godson close to him. lightly patting Teddy’s back he walks out of the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him. He shifts Teddy to a more comfortable position on his hip and makes his way down the stairs and to the kitchen. At the foot of the steps, Harry looks at Teddy and notices the boy fell back asleep, corner once again pressed against his lips.

Harry softly shakes his shoulder and murmurs, “Teddy, buddy, wake up. We’re almost to the kitchen and I kind of need my arms to cook.”

Teddy slowly blinks his eyes open and brings a hand up to rub them. He yawns and lays his head on Harry’s shoulder, loosening his grip around Harry’s neck ever so slightly.

Harry chuckles and continues to walk to the kitchen, only stopping to nudge open the kitchen door. He uses his foot to pull out a chair and sets Teddy down on it. Harry presses a kiss to the top of his head and says, “I’m gonna make pancakes, okay?”

His only answer is Teddy’s noncommittal grunt as he slumps over and proceeds to fall asleep on the table, his blanket doubling as a pillow. Harry cards a hand through the boys hair, still a striking blond from him mentioning Draco earlier, and goes to start making the pancakes.

It doesn’t take him long to make them and fry up some bacon to go along with it. He wakes up Teddy and they start to eat in silence. About halfway through breakfast the sound of flooing can be heard in the other room. Confused, Harry looks up wondering who stopped by at such short notice. Only the Weasleys and Andromeda had a direct floo connection with 12 Grimmauld Place; anyone else would have to fire call ahead of time to ask to be let through. Because of this Harry is quite surprised to see Draco stroll into the kitchen.

“How’d you get through?” Harry asks, confused although not as suspicious as he might have in recent times.

“Well, my mum had been planning on seeing my aunt again today, so I thought I might use her floo again,” Draco says in explanation, quickly as though he’s afraid Harr will hex him if he doesn’t get his explanation out as soon as possible.

Seeing Draco, Teddy leaps out of his chair and runs to hug him, wrapping his arms tightly around Draco’s legs and causing him to stumble a bit.

“Whoa there! Careful. Can’t have you falling over and getting hurt because you’re hanging onto me,” Draco says, steadying himself and pulling Teddy away from his legs. He then crouches down and gives Teddy a proper hug. 

“Hello, Harry,” he adds, sending Harry a small smile.

“Hey, Draco.” Harry says, giving him a smile in return. He diverts his attention to Teddy, and with a stern voice says, “You, sir, aren’t done with your breakfast.”

Teddy visibly deflates. “But I wanna play with Draco!”

“That’s why I told you to hurry and eat,” Harry says, not as annoyed as he is making it seem, hoping his ‘annoyance’ at Teddy will get him to eat. “I warned you.”

“But I’m fuuulllll,” Teddy whines.

“You weren’t saying that before he,” Harry points to Draco, “got here.”

“I wasn’t full then,” Teddy says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“It’s nearly ten, so unless you were planning a late lunch, I’d suggest you just put away the rest of his food with a preserving charm on it and that’ll be his lunch when we get back from Diagon Alley,” Draco tries, hoping he can get the two to compromise. Besides, if he gets his way (Which is likely, considering the fact that he’s a Malfoy and Malfoys get what they want) they won’t even be having lunch in the townhome.

Teddy turns to Harry and begs, “Please, oh please, oh ple-a-se? I promise I’ll eat every last bit of it at lunch. Please, can I be done?”

Harry thinks about it and finally succumbs, grudgingly grumbling, “Okay, but you better know I’ll hold you to that promise. Now go upstairs and get dressed.” 

Teddy squeals in delight and begins running to the door, with Harry yelling, “Don’t forget to take your gigi back upstairs with you! And no running!” at his retreating back. Teddy briskly walks back to the table, grabs his beloved blanket, and hurries back out the door. As soon as Teddy is out of sight, they hear the tell-tale signs of little feet running across the floor.

“Are you sure he’ll be fine picking out his own clothes? You don’t want him going out all mismatched, do you?” Draco asks, not trusting the five-year old in question to pick out good clothes.

“He’ll be alright,” Harry answers. “He picks his clothes out every other day, and I’m sure he wants to impress you with his clothes-picking skills. He seems to worship the ground you walk on.” He can’t seem to keep the jealous edge creeping into his voice.

“Trust me when I say this, Harry: he worships you far more than he does myself,” Draco says, as confusion flits across his mind. 

_What on earth would make Harry think the child likes me more? The only reason the kid likes me is because I don’t dare to tell him no, I couldn’t stand it if Teddy hated me, too._

“Whatever you say, Draco,” Harry says, not quite believing what Draco is telling him. Teddy couldn’t possibly like him more; he’s the one that tells him no all the time. It makes much more sense for him to love Draco the most because he spoils him.

Draco cocks his head to the side, a bit startled but also a bit pleased, “What’s with the sudden change in address?”

“What do you mean?” Harry asks, his defensive walls going up. _Shit, what’d I say this time_?

“Nothing; you’re just calling me by my first name instead of your usual _‘Malfoy’_.” Draco says his last name with a scarily accurate imitation of Harry’s voice.

“Oh! That.” Harry feels the tips of his ears beginning to heat up. “Well, I decided I might as well get used to acknowledging you by your first name since I see you so often. It would just be childish for me to keep acting like you’re going to hex me at every corner.” He can only hope this explanation will suffice. To be honest, he has no fucking clue why he’s calling him Draco. It’s just that it feels weird to say ‘Malfoy’, like it’s something vile.

“It was getting a bit ridiculous. If I wanted to hex you, I would’ve done so at an earlier point in time...or last night, when you were alone and vulnerable,” Draco says, as if he’s had time to think about it, which really doesn’t bother Harry as much as it should.

“I wasn’t the only _‘vulnerable_ ’ one last night, from what I remember. You were affected far more by the alcohol than I was,” Harry says, poking Draco square in the chest.

Taking a step forward, not willing to back down from the silent challenge in Harry’s eyes, Draco says, voice low, “I was quite aware of my surroundings, and fully conscience of what I was doing last night.”

Draco’s gaze is intense, as if trying to say something, but Harry isn’t quite catching it.They stare into each others eyes for an electrified moment until Teddy bursts back in the room, in which Draco and Harry both take a large step back from each other, as if burned.

Teddy has the impulse to back out of the room and let them get back to what they were doing, as he’s 99.99% sure that what he just saw was a good thing, but they’ve already seen him. “Are you ready to go?”

Shaking himself out of...whatever that was, Harry nods at Teddy, using a quick spell to change into regular clothes. “Yeah, go get your jacket, we’re following.” He casts a sidelong glance at Draco and walks out of the room.

The three of them walk into the living room and floo into Diagon Alley.

\--------

They push through the fireplace and into the warm living room of 12 Grimmauld Place, their cheeks and noses a bright pink and a few bags, around one in the afternoon.

“Okay, ready for lunch?” Harry asks, automatically guessing Draco’s going to stay for lunch.

“Actually, I was thinking we could take a picnic to the park, that way Teddy can work off some energy he undoubtedly gained from the candy he keeps sneaking out of this bag,” Draco says, holding the bag slightly out of Teddy’ reach. Teddy’s hands immediately go to his pockets, where he’s most likely hiding the wrappers.

“That sound’s like a good idea,” Harry says. Turning to Teddy, he scolds, “Though don’t think you’re going to get away with eating candy before lunch, mister, no more candy for a week.”

Draco and Harry quickly put together a lunch while Teddy goes in search of an old quilt for them to sit on. Harry has to admit it’s nice having someone do little things for Teddy with him. He and Ginny broke up way before Harry began babysitting Teddy, much less took him out for little activities. And he hasn’t really dated anyone after her, he’s been too focused on taking good care of Teddy and his job to even consider dating...but he isn’t dating Draco, probably never would because as far as he knows Draco doesn’t like men. Still, it’s nice to have him around to keep an eye on Teddy and make sure he’s kept happy.

Something really sticks in Harry’s mind from earlier though. What did Draco mean when he said he was ‘fully aware of his actions’? Does that mean he knowingly and purposely kissed the side of Harry’s neck? Did he pretend to be drunk? Was it all an act? If so, why? Is it possible that Draco used it as an excuse to be close to him? 

No, that can’t be, his imagination is just running away from him again.

\--------

After lunch, Teddy somehow coerces Harry and Draco into playing tag with him, which after thirty minutes, has them all laying on the ground panting from exertion. A few other little kids are hanging around the park with their parents and coax Teddy into playing with them.

Eventually, around eight or so, after Draco insisting they go somewhere for dinner, Harry and Draco brush their way into the living room of Harry’s townhome, Teddy curled up in Harry’s arms, close to sleep. They stand there awkwardly for a few minutes before Teddy coughs. Draco pats Harry’s shoulder, hand lingering a few seconds longer than necessary, mutters a goodbye and gets ready to step back through the fireplace.

Harry stops him with a hand on his arm and asks, “Same time next week?”

Draco’s face lights up with a smile, “Yeah, that sounds good, see you at work Harry.”

“See you at work, Draco,” Harry smiles and watches as Draco disappears through the fireplace again.

“Harry?” A small murmur comes from the head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, buddy?” Harry asks.

“Do you like him?” Teddy asks, fighting to keep his eyes open, needing to know the answer.

“Why do you ask that?” What on Earth brought about that question? Harry looks at Teddy, confusion and shock barely concealed on his face.

“You just seem really happy. I haven’t seen you this happy with anyone ever so I thought you might like him. So do you?” For such a young boy, he really observed a lot. Harry is actually surprised with how much he picks up on sometimes.

“I do. He’s really nice, very different from when we were kids,” Harry says, surprising himself with how easy he was able to answer that.

“You should be his friend. He likes you, too,” Teddy says, unaware of the tornado of thoughts and emotions it sends blazing through his godfather’s mind.

“Why do you say that?” Harry asks, not willing to believe that Draco likes him.

“Because he told me; I asked him and he said he liked you when you were happy and then he got sad and said you weren’t happy around him, but since you’re happy around him now, you can be happy together,” Teddy says, clearly unaware of the impact his words are having on Harry.

Does Draco really like him? He knows that Draco likes him as a friend at least, but could he really like him more than that? That’s sure how Teddy’s making it sound.

“Come on, buddy...time to get you to bed, you’re worn out,” Harry says, hiking Teddy higher up on his hip and heading to Teddy’s room.

Nudging open the bedroom door, Harry walks across the room and stops in front of Teddy’s bed. He adjusts his grip on Teddy to where he’s holding him with one arm and using his, now free, arm he pulls back the blankets and lays Teddy down on the bed. He takes off the boy’s shoes, setting them on the other side of the book case, and tucking the tiny feet under the covers. Pulling the blankets up to Teddy’s chin, Harry kisses Teddy’s nose and then drapes his gigi over him, taking special care that his corner is on his face.

“Do you think you’ll make it through a story?” Harry asks, only to see Teddy’s eyes close and his breathing leveled out.

Harry tip-toes out of the room, walking the few feet down the hall to his room. Stripping down to his boxers, he climbs into bed, replaying the day in his mind.

\--------

Harry and Ron never do get to sit down and talk about the case at the Burrow the next day; the conversation stayed firmly on wedding details. While Harry is happy for his friends, he really wants to hear the new information about the case. It could be just the thing that blows it wide open and shows them who the perpetrator is. Though Ron does find the time to ask Harry how his day with Teddy and Draco was yesterday. That starts up an argument about Harry and Draco being Ron’s only groomsmen in the wedding, which apparently George and Charlie are kind of peeved about. Ron’s only way of explaining is that the only two guys he trusts to keep him on track on his wedding day and the day before are his work partners, who constantly save his ass when he’s in trouble. Hermione tries to help justify her fiancée’s choice by saying that she only has two bridesmaids anyway, those being Ginny and Luna. After dinner, Teddy and Bill and Fleur’s children, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis, go into the living room and play, not caring about what the adults are going on about. Around nine, Harry plucks a sleeping Teddy off the couch, tosses the boy’s beloved blanket over his shoulder, says his goodbyes and floos to Andromeda’s home to put Teddy in bed.

\--------

The next day Harry and Draco are brought up to par on the case, and as Harry guessed, it blows the case wide open. By the end of the meeting, he’s sure they will have a handle on it by the end of the week.

Throughout the week Harry becomes more and more involved in their lunch conversations, to the point where it seems that, sometimes, Harry and Draco forget Ron is there.

During meetings, Ron catches them staring at the other when they think no one is looking, and when one happens to catch the other, they quickly look away and pretend nothing has happened. It starts to drive Ron mad, seeing them so smitten with each other that even he can see it. The only problem is that neither of them is aware of the other’s feelings. He has half a mind to lock them in a closet together until they finally tell each other their feelings and shag. Honestly, it’s ridiculous how clueless they’re being. Ron can’t count how many other Ministry employees have come up to him to ask if Harry and Draco are seeing each other. The next time it happens, he swears he’s going to hex them. If they’re so god damned curious they should approach either Harry or Draco and ask, maybe that way they would straighten their shit out and shag already. To say Ron is having a long week would be an understatement.

\--------

That weekend Draco is the one to come and drop Teddy off for the weekend.

“My Mum and Aunt were going out to lunch again...speaking of which, I hope you haven’t eaten yet, because I was thinking we should go to this nice restaurant down the street from here. I happened across it during lunch one day, and their selection was very nice.”

“Is it some fancy-pants restaurant that requires me to change?” Harry asks, eyeing Draco’s pressed black slacks and emerald green button-up shirt.

Draco laughs; he’s been doing that more and more lately, and Harry has to admit it’s nice, nothing like the cold, icy laugh he had at school. 

“No, what you’re wearing is fine,” he says, eyeing Harry up and down, and it may just be a trick of the light, but Harry could swear he sees a hungry glint in Draco’s eyes.

After lunch they walk around the muggle neighborhood and shops for a while. Halfway through their walk they stop in a coffee house and buy some hot chocolates to carry along with them on their walk.

They get back to 12 Grimmauld Place around four and Harry sets about making dinner for the three of them while Teddy and Draco are playing Go, Fish! at the table. Harry smiles as he watches them, Draco doing his best to make sure Teddy is winning.

It’s quiet, aside from the occasional question from Teddy or Draco and the sound of the food cooking when Teddy asks the question.

“Why won’t you tell Harry that you like him so you can be happy together?” Teddy asks, looking at Draco, his cards splayed, face up, on the table.

Harry nearly drops his spatula as he looks up from his place at the stove to watch Draco, trying to be as discreet as possible, and sees Draco looking at him. He sees Draco swallow and say, “What are you talking about, Teddy?”

“You said you like Harry when he’s happy, and Harry likes you because you make him happy, so why won’t you tell him you like him? He doesn’t believe me when I do.” Teddy is beginning to wonder if all adults are this weird.

“Well, I’m afraid Harry will run away...or be scared that I like him,” Draco says cautiously, silently hoping Harry doesn’t catch his meaning. Seeing Harry’s head snap to the side to stare at him squashes that hope, and he mentally prepares himself for the anger and accusations. When they don’t come, he looks at Harry in confusion. 

_Are his ears red? Oh dear god, does this mean he’s fine with it? If the color of his face is anything to go by, he reciprocates my feelings._

“Food’s done,” Harry all but shouts, interrupting Draco’s inner monologue.

Teddy and Draco pick up the cards, and Harry serves each of them a plate. Throughout dinner, Draco watches Harry, who keeps his eyes glued to the plate. Every once in a while, Harry looks up and Draco quickly diverts his gaze, only to look back a few minutes later.

After dinner Draco offers to wash the dishes while Harry puts Teddy to bed. As he’s drying the last dish, Harry comes trudging down the stairs. Draco ignores him and puts the plate away, finally turning to face Harry a moment later.

“I should get going,” Draco says, shifting on his feet ever so slightly.

“Okay, I’ll walk you to the fireplace,” Harry murmurs, following Draco out of the kitchen and into the living room. The walk is filled with tense and awkward silence that neither party wants to break.

As soon as the connection is set up between 12 Grimmauld Place and Malfoy Manor, Draco mutters, “Goodbye,” and escapes through the fireplace.

Well, work is definitely going to be awkward tomorrow, Harry thinks as he makes his way to bed.

\--------

As soon as he walks through the floo into the foyer of Malfoy Manor, Draco lean heavily on the closest wall, sliding down until he’s sitting on the floor.

Well, fuck, that could have gone better, he thinks as he thumps his head back against the wall.

\--------

At the end of the next week, Ron can’t decide if this week was worse than the one prior or not. No, Harry and Draco haven’t been obliviously flirting with one another again, but they aren’t really talking either. They mainly just bounce around and avoid each other as much as possible. The air between them is still charged with sexual tension, but also something else. What the hell happened over the weekend? Whatever it was needs to be fixed, soon. He’s getting married in two weeks and needs his groomsmen to be amicable, if it’s not fixed by Monday, he was going to have to do something.

\--------

That Saturday, Andromeda drops Teddy off and demands to know why Draco refuses to. Harry can only bring himself to tell a half-truth; that something happened and he and Draco are kind of avoiding resolving it.

Andromeda just hits him on the head and mutters something along the lines of, “You two are oblivious.”

Teddy, who has grown used to spending his Saturdays with Harry and Draco, keeps asking where the blonde is, getting progressively more and more sad as the day goes by. By family dinner at the Weasleys, Teddy is ready to confront Uncle Ron and form a plan.

\--------

Monday comes and goes and Harry and Draco still avoid one another. It’s time for Ron to put the plan into motion.

Throughout the week, Ron constantly creates situations that force the two groomsmen together to talk. Slowly, they become more comfortable around each other. By Friday, they are acknowledging each other whenever they pass by and not actively avoiding one another. Though it may not seem like much, it’s a huge improvement.

\--------

That Saturday, Draco drops Teddy off at Harry’s, much to Harry’s surprise, but claims he can’t stay. And for the first time, he tells Teddy no.

Teddy asks him to stay, for lunch at least, which is being made, but Draco just crouches down, looks Teddy straight in the eye and says, “I’m sorry, Teddy, but I can’t. I have some things to do before Uncle Ron’s wedding that I’ve been putting off. I’ll see you Monday, okay?” After a sniffling nod from Teddy, he gives the boy a big hug and disappears once more through the fireplace.

\--------

The following Wednesday, Harry, Ron, and Draco get the day off from work to get their tuxedos fitted. As Ron is changing into his suit, Harry and Draco having done so already, they stand there in an awkward silence for a moment before Harry finally says, “Your suit looks nice on you.”

Draco looks at his feet, “Thanks, though the sleeves and legs are an inch too long, and its hanging a bit off my frame.”

Harry clears his throat, glances around, and can’t help himself from venturing, “So...that night you stayed late for drinks, you seemed pretty hammered to me. But the next day you said you were completely aware of what you were doing. Were you acting drunk?” The question has been plaguing him for weeks, he really can’t make sense of the situation.

“Yes,” Draco says, his voice clipped.

“Why?” Harry can’t make sense of it; the only reasons he can think of all led to one conclusion, and he honestly can’t see that as a possibility.

“I wanted to be close to you, and the alcohol gave me the perfect cover up. It did affect me, but only my restraint. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought farther along than the next five seconds,” Draco says, avoiding looking at Harry, his ears turning a bright, tomato red.

Harry is about to respond when Ron walks out of the dressing room.

As Ron walks up to the duo, he can tell the atmosphere has definitely shifted for the better. It doesn’t seem as awkward as before, but there is definitely more sexual tension. He can sure guess how the next week was going to be.

By the end of the fitting, Draco and Harry are talking much more and lightly flirting again.

\--------

Saturday, Draco brings Teddy over to Harry’s again, but this time he stays for lunch and a little later. They sit around for the better part of an hour or two playing pretend, much to Teddy’s joy. They pretend to be things like dragons and princes, cops and robbers, cowboys and farmers, robots and aliens. Teddy’s favorite part of the afternoon, though is when Draco says goodbye and leaves. Draco seemed like he was stalling and wanted to stay longer but didn’t know whether he would be welcome. He gives Teddy a big hug like usual, and then Harry surprises them both by pulling Draco into a hug. When they pull apart though, Draco’s face is a bit red, which sort of confuses Teddy a bit, but it looks like it’s a good thing so he’s okay. Teddy finds himself really happy; it seems like Harry and Draco worked out what was wrong and now they’re going to be happy together and Teddy will be able to spend bunches of time with them.

\--------

Ron is slightly annoyed throughout the next week, but still happy because the two oblivious idiots finally straightened their business out and are back to their little flirting game, though it seems both parties are fully aware of what’s going on this time around. If they don’t get together soon though, Ron is definitely going to lock them in a closet together.

\--------

Friday, Ron, Harry, and Draco all have the day off, it being the day before Ron’s wedding and all. The Bachelor party isn’t much; they just sit around 12 Grimmauld Place, drink a few butterbeers and talk Quidditch. When it comes time to go to bed, things get a bit awkward again.

“So, where am I going to sleep?” Draco asks, watching as Ron and Harry pull out the couch bed with practiced ease. He assumes Ron stays the night here when he and Hermione get into a little tiff.

“Uhm… I hadn’t thought about that,” Harry admits, a bit sheepishly.

“Why can’t he just crash in your bed?” Ron asks, ready to get them out of the room so he can pass the fuck out.

Harry’s face flushes bright red and Draco stammers out, “I-I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

Ron flops onto the mattress, turning his head to the side so they can hear him, “And why not? You two eye-fuck each other already, why should it matter if you share a bed?”

“Oka-a-ay! Come on, Draco, I think there’s a functional guest bedroom on the third floor. If not, you can sleep in Teddy’s room.” Harry frantically pulls Draco out by his arm before Ron says anything else.

Luckily there’s a second bedroom on the third floor that Draco can use. Draco really doesn’t want to invade in Teddy’s space, and it would be awkward to explain to Harry that he really doesn’t mind having to share a bed, though he may get a bit handsy.

\--------

The next day gets off to a rocky start with the three of them waking up an hour late and not being able to eat a good breakfast. Then when they go to pick up their tuxes, the store almost doesn’t let them do their final fitting to make sure nothing will fall apart during the ceremony or reception. Then, finally, Ron misplaces Hermione’s ring, and 20 minutes later after tearing apart the living room at 12 Grimmauld Place, he finds it in his jacket pocket where he left it the night before. He gives the ring to Harry, since he’s the best man, so he doesn’t misplace it again, and they head to the chapel.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch. It’s a typical muggle wedding with the wizarding bonds in place of the traditional muggle vows.

The reception is in a combination ballroom and banquet hall just down the street. Outside the hall is a beautiful garden with a few stone benches scattered around and a small creek running through that has a wooden bridge going over it. There is also a playground for all of the little kids to play at instead of just sitting around inside waiting for the band to set up. 

After all of the photos are taken, Hermione pulls Harry off to the side. 

“What’s wrong, Harry?”

Nothing’s wrong ‘Mione...the wedding is beautiful; I’m just sad I have no one to share it with,” Harry says, trying to play off the lonely feeling he’s had since the ceremony began.

“Well, Draco doesn’t have a date either,” Hermione says, hoping Harry will pick up the hint.

Harry stares at her, face blank, and stiffly says, “What do you mean by that?”

Hermione rolls her eyes; this boy can be so obtuse sometimes, “It’s obvious you two like each other. Ron constantly complains about how everyone at work is always asking him if you and Draco have hooked up yet. What I’m saying is _make a move_. It can’t backfire; he’s aching for you to make the first move, I can see it.”

“And just what do you expect me to do? Pull him off to the side and confess my undying love for him? I can’t do that, Hermione! I have no clue what to do, how does someone even begin to approach Draco Malfoy?” Harry asks, he has no clue what he’s doing. He desperately wants to let Draco know how he feels and see where it leads, but he _doesn’t know how_. 

“You could start by asking him to dance after dinner. You could pull him to the side and say, ‘Hey Draco, I like you and I know you like me so let’s see where it goes.’” Hermione says, a poor imitation of Harry’s voice that causes him to bust out laughing.

“Okay, I guess I can ask him to dance. They should be serving dinner soon, so we should head inside,” Harry says, holding out an arm for Hermione.

“I just want to see you happy, Harry,” she says, smiling, taking his arm and with the other hiking up the front of her dress so she doesn’t step on it.

After they eat--well, the friends and family eat, Ron and Hermione keep getting goaded into kissing--Ron and Hermione have their first dance as a married couple. The song is a traditional wizard ballad that Harry is unfamiliar with, but it’s still pleasing to the ear.

For the second song the wedding party is supposed to join in the dancing, so Harry goes to dance with Ginny and Luna to dance with Draco. After a glare from Hermione, Ginny grabs Luna and dances away with her, leaving Harry to dance with Draco. Harry grasps one of Draco’s hands in his own and places his other on his waist, leading them in a dance, a foot of air between them. Not long after they begin dancing though, their bodies are pressed together, moving in sync. Harry just stares into Draco’s steady steel grey eyes, eyes that seem to hold a question. After a moment Harry watches as Draco’s eyes flicker down to his lips and back to his eyes, as though asking, _‘May I?’_

Harry answers the only way he knows how. He closes his eyes and leans forward, Draco meeting him halfway.

Fireworks explode behind Harry’s eyelids. He’s not sure what this means or where it’s going to end up but he can’t wait to find out.

Teddy is sitting with Andromeda, watching them, a big smile on his face. Now his Godfather and Draco can live happily ever after. Well, at least that’s how the story goes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments are extremely welcome either here or [on Livejournal](http://hd-fan-fair.livejournal.com/69920.html).


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